0419-0419 – Synodum Cartaginense – Canones The Canons Of The CCXVII Blessed Fathers Who ...

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0419-0419 – Synodum Cartaginense – Canones

The Canons Of The CCXVII Blessed Fathers Who Assembled At Carthage. Commonly Called The Code Of
Canons Of The African Church.

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more plainly. They only know of four ancient General Councils—those of Nice, Constantinople,
Ephesus, and Chalcedon. The objection of the Ballerini that Gregory and Isidore did not intend to
enumerate the most ancient general synods as such, but only those which issued important dogmatic
decrees, is plainly quite arbitrary, and therefore without force. Under such circumstances it is
natural that among the later scholars by far the great majority should have answered the question,
whether the Synod of Sardica is ecumenical, in the negative, as have Cardinal Bellarmin, Peter de
Marca, Edmund Richer, Fleury, Orsi, Sacharelli, Tillemont, Du Pin, Berti, Ruttenstock, Rohrbacher,
Remi Ceillier, Stolberg, Neander, and others. On the other hand, Baronius, Natalis Alexander, the
brothers Ballerini, Mansi, and Palma416 have sought to maintain the ecumenical character of the
synod, but as early as the seventeenth century the Roman censors condemned the direct assertions
of Natalis Alexander on the subject.
THE CANONS OF THE CCXVII BLESSED FATHERS WHO
437 ASSEMBLED AT CARTHAGE.
COMMONLY CALLED
THE CODE OF CANONS OF THE AFRICAN CHURCH.
A.D.419.
Elenchus.
Introductory Note.
The Canons with the Ancient Epitome and Notes.
416 Jno. Bapt. Palma. Prælectiones Hist. Eccl. quas in Collegio Urbano habuit. Rome, l838. Tom. i., P. ii., p. 85.
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Introductory Note.
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An attempt to write a commentary upon all the canons of the African Code, would have meant
nothing less than the preparation of one volume or more on the canon law of the West. This is
impossible and therefore, interesting as the field would be, I have been compelled to restrain my
pen, and rather than give a scant and insufficient annotation, I have contented myself with providing
the reader with as good a translation as I have been able to make of the very corrupt Latin (correcting
it at times by the Greek), and have added the Ancient Epitome and the quaint notes in full of John
Johnson from the Second Edition, of 1714, of his “Clergyman’s Vade-mecum,” Pt. II., which occupy
little space, but may not be easily reached by the ordinary reader. The student will find full scholia
on these Canons in Van Espen in the Latin, and in Zonaras and Balsamon in the Greek. These
latter are in Beveridge’s Synodicon.
Johnson writes an excellent Introduction to his Epitome of these Canons, as follows:
“Councils were nowhere more frequently called in the Primitive Times than in Africa. In the
year 418–19, all canons formerly made in sixteen councils held at Carthage, one at Milevis, one at
Hippo, that were approved of, were read, and received a new sanction from a great number of
bishops, then met in synod at Carthage. This Collection is the Code of the African Church, which
was always in greatest repute in all Churches next after the Code of the Universal Church. This
code was of very great authority in the old English Churches, for many of the Excerptions of Egbert
were transcribed from it. And though the Code of the Universal Church ends with the canons of
Chalcedon,417yet these African Canons are inserted into the Ancient Code both of the Eastern and
Western Churches. These canons though ratified and approved by a synod, yet seem to have been
divided or numbered by some private and unlearned hand, and have probably met with very unskilful
transcribers, by which means some of them are much confounded and obscured, as to their sense
and coherence. They are by Dionysius Exiguus and others entituled The Canons of the Synod of
Africa. And though all were not originally made at one time, yet they were all confirmed by one
synod of African bishops, who, after they had recited the Creed and the twenty canons of the Council
of Nice, proceeded to make new canons, and re-enforce old ones.”
In his “Library of Canon Law” (Bibliotheca Juris Canonici) Justellus gives these canons, and,
in my opinion, gives them rightly, the title “The Code of Canons of the African Church” (Codex
Canonum Ecclesiæ Africanæ), although Hefele418describes them as “the collection of those African
Canons put together in 419 by Dionysius Exiguus.” Hefele says that the title Dionysius gave them
in his collection was “The Statutes of an African Council” (Statuta Concilii Africani) which would
certainly be wholly inadequate and misleading; but in the edition of Dionysius in Migne’s Patrologia
417 I do not understand what Johnson means by this statement. Vide Can. j. of Chalcedon.
418 Hefele. Hist. of the Councils, vol. ii., p. 468, Note 1.
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Latina (Tom. LXVII., col. 181) in the Codex Canonum Ecclesiasticorum no such title occurs, but
the perfectly accurate one, “A Synod at Carthage in Africa, which adopted one hundred and
thirty-eight canons.” This is an exact description of what took place and of the origin of these most
important dogmatic and disciplinary enactments. Hefele must have been thinking of Dionysius’s
Preface where the expression does occur but not as a title.
(Beveridge. Synodicon, Tom. II., p. 202.)
Carthage was formerly the head of the whole of Africa, as St. Augustine tells us in his Epistle
CLXII. From this cause it happened that a great number of councils were held there, gathered from
all the provinces of Africa. Especially while Aurelius as Archbishop was occupying the throne
were these meetings of bishops frequently holden; and by these, for the establishing of ecclesiastical
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discipline in Africa, many canons were enacted. At last, after the consulate of Honorius (XII.) and
Theodosius (VIII.), Augustuses, on the eighth day before the Calends of June, that is to say, on
May 25, in the year of our Lord 419, another Council was held in the same city at which all the
canons previously adopted were considered, and the greater part of them were again confirmed by
the authority of the synod. These canons, thus confirmed by this council, merited to be called from
that day to this “The Code of Canons of the African Church.” These canons were not at first adopted
in Greek but in Latin, and they were confirmed in the same language. This Dionysius Exiguus
distinctly testifies to in his preface to the “Code of Ecclesiastical Canons,” in which they are
included. It is uncertain when the canons of this Carthaginian synod were done into Greek. This
only is certain, that they had been translated into Greek before the Council in Trullo by which, in
its Second Canon, they were received into the Greek Nomocanon, and were confirmed by the
authority of this synod; so that from that time these canons stand in the Eastern Church on an
equality with all the rest.
An extremely interesting point arises as to what was the authority of the collection as a collection,
and how this collection was made? There seems no doubt that the collection substantially as we
know it was the code accepted by the Council of Trullo, the canons of which received a
quasi-ecumenical authority from the subsequent general imprimatur given them by the Seventh
Ecumenical Council, the Second of Nice. Van Espen has considered this point at great length in
Dissertation VIII. of the First Part of his Commentaries, and to his pages I must refer the reader
for anything like an adequate presentation of the matter. He concludes (§ I.) that the “Code owes
its origin to this synod,” and argues against De Marca in proof of the proposition that the collection
was not the private work of Dionysius, but the official work of the council by one of its officials,
concluding with the remark (§ II.) that “this was the persuasion both of Greeks and Latins,…and
these canons are set forth by Balsamon with the title, ‘The Canons of the CCXVII. Blessed Fathers
who met together at Carthage.’”
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In the notes on each canon I shall give the source, following Hefele in all respects (Hist. of the
Councils, vol. ii., pp. 468 et seqq.), and content myself here with setting down a list of the various
councils which made the enactments, with their dates.
Carthage (under Gratus)—345–348 A.D.
“ (under Genethlius)—387 or 390
Hippo—393
I. Carthage—394
II. “ (June 26)—397
III. “ (August 28)—397
IV. “ (April 27)—399
V. “ (June 15)—401
VI. “ (September 13)—401
VII. Milevis (August 27)—402
VIII. Carthage (August 25)—403
IX. “ (June)—404
X. “ (August 25)—405
XI. “ (June 13)—407
XII. and XIII. Carthage (June 16 and October 13)—408
XIV. Carthage (June 15)—409
XV. “ (June 14)—410
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XVI. “ (May 1)—418
XVII. “ (May 25) which adopted the African Code—419
The numbering of the African councils differs very widely between the different writers, and
Cave reckons nine between 401 and 608, and thirty-five Carthaginian between 215 and 533.419
Very useful tables, shewing the conclusions of Fuchs, are found at the end of Bruns, Canones
Apostolorum et Conciliorum Veterum Selecti.
I need only add that I have frequently used Dr. Bruns’s text, but have not confined myself to it
exclusively. Evidently in the Latin, as we now have it, there are many corrupt passages. In strange
contradistinction to this, the Greek is apparently pure and is clear throughout. Possibly the Greek
translation was made from a purer Latin text than we now possess.
An Ancient Introduction.
(Found in Dionysius Exiguus, Codex Can. Migne, Pat. Lat., Tom. lxvii., col. 182.)
419 For this statement I am indebted to Mr. Ffoulkes in art. “African Councils.” Smith and Cheetham, Dict. Christ. Antiq.
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After the consulate of the most glorious emperors, Honorus for the twelfth time and Theodosius
for the eighth time, Augustuses, on the VIII. before the Calends of June at Carthage, in the
Secretarium of the basilica of Faustus, when Pope Aurelius had sat down, together with Valentine
of the primatial see of the province of Numidia, and Faustinus of the Potentine Church, of the Italian
province Picenum, a legate of the Roman Church, and also with legates of the different African
provinces, that is to say, of the two Numidias, of Byzacena, of Mauritania Cæsariensis, as well as
of Tripoli, and with Vincent Colositanus, Fortunatian, and other bishops of the proconsular province,
in all two hundred and seventeen, also with Philip and Asellus, presbyters and legates of the Roman
Church, and while the deacons were standing by, Aurelius the bishop said, etc., ut infra.
The Canons of the 217 Blessed Fathers who assembled at Carthage.
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(Labbe and Cossart: Concilia, Tom. II. Col. 1041; Dionysius Ex., Codex Can.Eccles.[Migne, Pat.
Lat., Tom. LXVII.]; Beveridge, Synodicon in loc.)
AURELIUSTHE BISHOP said:420 You, most blessed brethren, remember that after the day fixed for
the synod we discussed many things while we were waiting for our brethren who now have been
sent as delegates and have arrived at the present synod, which must be placed in the acts. Wherefore
let us render thanks to our Lord for the gathering together of so great an assembly. It remains that
the acts of the Nicene Synod which we now have, and have been determined by the fathers, as well
as those things enacted by our predecessors here, who confirmed that same Synod, or which
according to the same form have been usefully enacted by all grades of the clergy, from the highest
even to the lowest, should be brought forward. The whole Council said: Let them be brought
forward.
Daniel the Notary read: The profession of faith or statutes of the Nicene Synod are as follows.
And while he was speaking, Faustinus, a bishop of the people of Potentia, of the Italian province
of Picenum, a legate of the Roman Church said: There have been entrusted to us by the Apostolic
See certain things in writings, and certain other things as in ordinances to be treated of with your
blessedness as we have called to memory in the acts above, that is to say, concerning the canons
made at Nice, that their decrees and customs be observed; for some things are observed out of
decree and canon, but some from custom. Concerning these things therefore in the first place let
us make enquiry, if it please your blessedness; and afterwards let the other ordinances which have
been adopted or proposed be confirmed; so that you may be able to show by your rescripts to the
420 The reader must not complain if he finds the meaning of the translation often obscure. So great a scholar as Hefele says
of one of these speeches, “This, I believe, must be the meaning of the somewhat unintelligible text, etc.,” and again of another
passage he says that it “is even more obscure,” and that “the text is undoubtedly corrupt. The sense is probably, etc.”
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Apostolic See, and that you may declare to the same venerable Pope, that we have diligently
remembered these things; although the headings of action taken had been already inserted in the
acts.421 In this matter we should act, as I have said above, as shall please your beloved blessedness.
Let, therefore the commonitorium come into the midst, that ye may be able to recognize what is
contained in it, so that an answer can be given to each point.
Aurelius said: Let the commonitorium be brought forward, which our brethren and
fellow-ministers lately placed in the acts, and let the rest of the things done or to be done, follow
in order.
Daniel the Notary read the Commonitorium. To our brother Faustinus and to our sons, the
presbyters Philip and Asellus, Zosimus, the bishop. You well remember that we committed to you
certain businesses, and now [we bid you] carry out all things as if we ourselves were there (for),
indeed, our presence is there with you; especially since ye have this our commandment, and the
words of the canons which for greater certainty we have inserted in this our commonitory. For
thus said our brethren in the Council of Nice when they made these decrees concerning the appeals
of bishops:
“But it seemed good that if a bishop had been accused, etc.” [Here follows verbatim Canon v.
of Sardica.]
ANCIENT EPITOME.
If bishops shall have deposed a bishop, and if he appeal to the Roman bishop, he should be
benignantly heard, the Roman bishop writing or ordering.
And when this had been read, Alypius, bishop of the Tagastine Church, and legate of the province
of Numidia, said: On this matter there has been some legislation in former sessions of our council,
and we profess that we shall ever observe what was decreed by the Nicene Council; yet I remember
that when we examined the Greek copies of this Nicene Synod, we did not find these the words
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quoted—Why this was the case, I am sure I do not know. For this reason we beg your reverence,
holy Pope Aurelius, that, as the authentic record of the decrees of the Council of Nice are said to
be preserved in the city of Constantinople, you would deign to send messengers with letters from
your Holiness, and not only to our most holy brother the bishop of Constantinople, but also to the
venerable bishops of Alexandria and Antioch, who shall send to us the decrees of that council with
the authentification of their signatures, so that hereafter all ambiguity should be taken away, for
we failed to find the words cited by our brother Faustinus; notwithstanding this however we promise
to be ruled by them for a short time, as I have already said, until reliable copies come to hand.
Moreover the venerable bishop of the Roman Church, Boniface, should be asked likewise to be
good enough to send messengers to the aforementioned churches, who should have the same copies
421 I have followed in this passage the Greek text as a trifle less incomprehensible.
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according to his rescript, but the copies of the aforementioned Nicene Council which we have, we
place in these Acts.
Faustinus the bishop, legate of the Roman Church, said: Let not your holiness do dishonour to
the Roman Church, either in this matter or in any other, by saying the canons are doubtful, as our
brother and fellow-bishop Alypius has vouchsafed to say: but do you deign to write these things
to our holy and most blessed pope, so that he seeking out the genuine canons, can treat with your
holiness on all matters decreed. But it suffices that the most blessed bishop of the city of Rome
should make enquiry just as your holiness proposes doing on your part, that there may not seem to
have arisen any contention between the Churches, but that ye may the rather be enabled to deliberate
with fraternal charity, when he has been heard from, what is best should be observed.
Aurelius the bishop said: In addition to what is set down in the acts, we, by the letters from
our insignificance, must more fully inform our holy brother and fellow-bishop Boniface of everything
which we have considered. Therefore if our plan pleases all, let us be informed of this by the mouth
of all. And the whole council said: It seems good to us.
Novatus the bishop, legate of Mauritania Sitifensis, said: We now call to mind that there is
contained in this commonitory something about presbyters and deacons, how they should be tried
by their own bishops or by those adjoining, a provision which we find nothing of in the Nicene
Council. For this cause let your holiness order this part to be read.
Aurelius the bishop said: Let the place asked for be read. Daniel the notary read as follows:
Concerning the appeals of clergymen, that is of those of inferior rank, there is a sure answer of this
very synod, concerning which thing what ye should do, we think should be inserted, as follows:
“Hosius the bishop said: I should not conceal what has come into my mind up to this time. If
any bishop perchance has been quickly angered (a thing what should not happen) and has acted
quickly or sharply against a presbyter or a deacon of his, and has wished to drive him out of the
Church, provision should be made that the innocent be not condemned, or be deprived of
communion: he that has been ejected should have the right of appeal to the bishops of the bordering
dioceses, that his case should be heard, and it should be carried on all the more diligently because
to him who asks a hearing it should not be denied. And the bishop who either justly or unjustly
rejected him, should patiently allow the affair to be discussed, so that his sentence be either approved
or else emended, etc.”
Notes.
ANCIENT EPITOME.
A presbyter or deacon who has been cut off, has the privilege of appealing to the neighbouring
bishops. Moreover, he who cut him off should bear with equanimity the conclusion arrived at.
This is the first part of Canon xiv. of Sardica, as the canon previously quoted is Canon v. of the
same synod.
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And when this had been read, Augustine, the bishop of the Church of Hippo of the province of
Numidia, said: We promise that this shall be observed by us, provided that upon more careful
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examination it be found to be of the Council of Nice. Aurelius the bishop said. If this also is
pleasing to the charity of you all, give it the confirmation of your vote. The whole Council said:
Everything that has been ordained by the Nicene Council pleases us all. Jocundus, the bishop of
the Church of Suffitula, legate of the province of Byzacena, said: What was decreed by the Nicene
Council cannot in any particular be violated.
Faustinus the bishop, legate of the Roman Church, said: So far as has developed by the
confession of your holiness as well as of the holy Alypius, and of our brother Jocundus, I believe
that some of the points have been made weak and others confirmed, which should not be the case,
since even the very canons themselves have been brought into question. Therefore, that there may
be harmony between us and your blessedness, let your holiness deign to refer the matter to the holy
and venerable bishop of the Roman Church, that he may be able to consider whether what St.
Augustine vouchsafed to enact, should be conceded or not, I mean in the matter of appeals of the
inferior grade. If therefore there still is doubt, on this head it is right that the bishop of the most
blessed see be informed, if this can be found in the canons which have been approved.
ANCIENT EPITOME.
Since the written decrees of the Nicene Council have not been found, let the Roman bishop
deign to write to the bishop of Constantinople and to him of Alexandria, and let us know what he
receives from them.
Aurelius the bishop said: As we have suggested to your charity, pray allow the copies of the
statutes of the Nicene Council to be read and inserted in the acts, as well as those things what have
been most healthfully defined in this city by our predecessors, according to the rule of that council,
and those which now have been ordained by us. And the whole council said: The copies of the
Creed, and the statutes of the Nicene Synod which formerly were brought to our council through
Cæcilean of blessed memory, the predecessor of your holiness (who was present at it), as well as
the copies of the decrees made by the Fathers in this city following them, or which now we have
decreed by our common consultation, shall remain inserted in these ecclesiastical acts, so that (as
has been already said) your blessedness may vouchsafe to write to those most venerable men of
the Church of Antioch, and of that of Alexandria, and also of that of Constantinople, that they
would send most accurate copies of the decrees of the Council of Nice under the authentification
of their signatures, by which, the truth of the matter having become evident, those chapters which
in the commonitory our brother who is present, and fellow-bishop Faustinus, as well as our
fellow-presbyters Philip and Asellus brought with them, if they be found therein, may be confirmed
by us; or if they be not found, we will hold a synod and consider the matter further. Daniel the
notary read the profession of faith of the Council of Nice and its statutes to the African Council.
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The Profession of Faith of the Nicene Council.
We believe in one God, etc.,…and in the Holy Ghost. But those who say, etc.,…anathematize
them.
The statutes also of the Nicene Council in twenty heads were likewise read, as are found written
before. Then what things were promulgated in the African Synods, were inserted in the present
acts.
Canon I.
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That the statutes of the Nicene Council are to be scrupulously observed.
AURELIUSthe bishop said: Such are the statutes of the Nicene Council, which our fathers at that
time brought back with them: and preserving this form, let these things which follow, adopted and
confirmed by us, be kept firm.
Notes.
ANCIENT EPITOME OF CANON I.
Let the copies of the decrees of the Nicene Council which our fathers brought back with them
from that synod, be observed.
JOHNSON.
It is certain that Cæcilian, then Bishop of Carthage, was present at the Council of Nice; that
any other African bishop was there does not appear; but probably he was attended with several
clergyman, who were afterwards ordained bishops.
Canon II.
Of Preaching the Trinity.
THEwhole Council said: By the favour of God, by a unanimous confession the Church’s faith
which through us is handed down should be confessed in this glorious assembly before anything
else; then the ecclesiastical order of each is to be built up and strengthened by the consent of all.
That the minds of our brethren and fellow bishops lately elevated may be strengthened, those things
should be propounded which we have certainly received from our fathers, as the unity of the Trinity,
which we retain consecrated in our senses, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
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